CHAPTER 6

The Age of the Heavens and the Earth and Man

How old is the UNIVERSE? How long has the earth been here? The Bible says that "in
the _____________ God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). When was this
BEGINNING? When did this wonderful work of CREATION take place? Hundreds of years ago?
Thousands of years ago? Millions of years ago? Billions of years ago (as the evolutionists
now believe)? What does the BIBLE teach about the AGE of the heavens and the earth?

Problems in Determining Age

You might be curious about how old your school building is. When was that school built?
Your Grandfather might say, "I remember when that school was built. I was 18 years
old when that building was constructed." Grandfather could tell you the very year
that your school was built. He was a witness.

The problem with determining the age of the earth is that no one was alive to witness
this great event. A scientist might say, "The earth is four or five billion years
old." This is what he believes, but does he really know this? Was he there when it
happened? Does he know anyone who witnessed this event?

The Lord Jesus was present when the world was first made because He was the Creator
(John 1:3; Col. 1:16; Eph. 3:9). We can fully trust what He says about the creation of the
world. The angels also witnessed the creation of the earth (Job 38:4-7). But there were no
people to witness this event.

Suppose you were to enter an abandoned house (no one is home) and you see a candle
burning on the table.

The candle is 5 inches tall. As you watch this candle, you notice that it is burning at
a rate of 1 inch every hour. HOW LONG HAS THAT CANDLE BEEN BURNING?
_________________________________________________________

Suppose that someone told you that the candle was originally10 inches tall. HOW LONG
HAS THE CANDLE BEEN BURNING? _______

To answer how long the candle was burning, you must know the STARTING POINT. You must
know how tall the candle stood IN THE BEGINNING. [Note: you also must assume that the
candle has always burned at the same rate from the time it was first lit. If the candle
was made so that it was thinner on the top, then it would have probably burned at a faster
rate at the beginning, perhaps at a rate of 2 inches per hour. These factors are difficult
to determine if you did not see the candle when it was first lit.]

In this same house you also notice a clock on the wall. It is an 8-day windup clock (if
you wind it up all the way, it will run for 8 days). Soon after you enter the house this
clock stops ticking. HOW LONG HAS THE CLOCK BEEN TICKING? You might think that the clock
has been ticking for 8 days, but this may not be the case. Perhaps someone entered the
house the day before and wound it up only partially. If so, then it has only been running
for 1 day! Here again, you need to know the STARTING POINT. You need to know when the
clock was first wound up and whether or not the clock was wound up all the way. If you
assume that the clock was wound up all the way you might be making the wrong assumption.

How can we learn about the BEGINNING or the STARTING POINT of the UNIVERSE?
"Through _______________ we U_______________________________" (Hebrews 11:3).
Faith is simply taking God at His Word and believing what He has said. Our faith is in the
Almighty CREATOR who was there at the STARTING POINT and who has given us the book of
GENESIS which tells us what the heavens and the earth were like when God created them IN
THE BEGINNING (when God wound them up and started them ticking!) We were not there when
everything STARTED (Job 38:4), but God the Creator was! Lets believe what He tells
us about the origin of our planet.

The Creation Week

In our study of the DAYS OF CREATION (chapter 4) we learned that the earth was created
on DAY _______, the sun, moon and stars were created on DAY ______ , and man was created
on DAY ______. The earth, the sun, the moon, the stars and man were all created in the
same week (Exodus 20:11), and so they are really all the same age! [The sun and earth are
not billions of years older than man, as evolutionists teach. Actually the earth is only
five days older than Adam!] If we know how old the earth is, then we know how old the sun
is and we know how long man has lived on the earth. If we know when Adam was created, then
we also know how old the earth, sun and moon are! They were all made at the same time,
during six days of the CREATION WEEK. How long ago was this week of creation? BILLIONS of
years? MILLIONS of years? THOUSANDS of years? This is the question we will seek to answer
in this lesson.

CREATION WITH AN APPEARANCE OF AGE

When something is created, it may look like it is old, but it is not really old at all.
It was just created! Lets look at some examples:

1. Adam

When God created Adam, did He create a baby and then wait 25 or 30 years for the baby
to grow up) or did He create a full grown man (Genesis 2:7,15,20,23,25)?
_________________________________ If it were possible for you to see a picture of Adam on
DAY 6 of creation, he would probably look like a 25

or 30 year old man! Was he really 25 or 30 years old? ________ He was really less than
one day old! This seems very strange to us. When we have a birthday party for a one year
old, we expect to see a small baby. But when Adam had his first birthday, he was a full
grown man even though he was only a year old! Adam was created with an APPEARANCE OF AGE!
He seemed to be much older than he really was.

2. Trees and Mountains

When God created the trees, did He first create a seed and then plant it in the ground
and wait for it to grow or did He create a full grown tree (see Genesis 1:11)?
________________________________ If a scientist were to observe this tree 5 minutes after
creation, without knowing anything about how that tree started, he might guess that the
tree was 100 years old or older. Was it really this old? _____ How old was it?
______________________________________ It seemed to be 100 years old because it was
created full grown and thus it has an APPEARANCE OF AGE. The same is true with the
mountains. If a scientist were brought to the scene one day after the mountains were
created, he might look at those majestic peaks and assume that those mountains had been
there for centuries. But his assumption would be wrong because they had just been created.
Those mountains were really only one day old even though they looked much older.

3. The Chicken and the Egg

Which came first, the hen or the egg (Genesis 1:21)? This question has puzzled many
people but the Bible gives a clear answer. All the animals were created fully mature. God
first made the hen, and then the hen laid the eggs! The person who does not believe the
Bible has a problem answering this question! If the egg came first, who laid it? If the
hen came first, who hatched it? But if the CREATOR created it as a full grown adult hen,
then there is no problem! The Bible gives us the STARTING POINT. God started with THE
CHICKEN. The first eggs came later!

4. The Light From Stars

Think of a star that is 80 million light years away! That means that the light now
being produced or radiated by that star would take 80 million years to reach the earth so
we could see it through our giant telescopes. Even the light from the sun, our nearest
star, takes several minutes to reach the earth.

Today we can see the light from stars that are millions of light years away. Does this
mean that the earth must be millions of years old? Not at all. First, we must remember
that a LIGHT YEAR is a measurement of DISTANCE, not a measurement of TIME.
When an astronomer tells us that a star is a certain number of light years away, he is
telling us how far away the star is (DISTANCE), not how old the star is or how long the
star has existed (TIME). Second, the Bible tells us in Genesis 1:17 that God set the stars
in the sky to give light upon ______ ______________. Do you think the Creator made the
stars and then waited millions of years for their light to reach the earth? NO, He not
only created the stars, but He also created the beam of light connecting the distant star
to the earth, so that the light from these far away suns would shine upon the earth as
soon as they were created. If God had only created the stars but not the light beam
stretching from the star to earth, then Adam would look up at the heavens at night and
would see no stars at all. It would take several years for the light of the closest star
to reach earth. At that point, only one star would be visible to Adam. But Adam and others
were able to see a sky full of stars even from the beginning (compare Genesis 15:5).

5. Soil and Sand

Trees and plants need soil in which to grow. If we were to look at soil today, we would
assume that the soil had a past history! The soil was probably once hard rock and through
the years the forces of nature (erosion, weathering, the addition of decaying organic
matter, etc.) broke up the rock into smaller pieces until finally we have soil! Do you
think God created soil for the first trees and plants, or did He just create rocks and
then wait thousands of years for the rocks to break down into soil? Did God create sand,
or did He wait thousands of years for the action of the waves and weather to produce sand?
[Most sand consists of quartz grains derived from the weathering of granite or other
siliceous igneous rocks.] God equipped the early earth with some wonderful sand beaches
right from the beginning!

6. The Creation of a Rock

What if you had the power and ability to create a rock! Of course, we know that only
the Almighty Creator can do this, but let us suppose that you were able to create a rock
out of nothing. Suppose you were to take this newly created rock to a geologist. He would
study the rock and analyze it and probably tell you that it was millions of years old! Was
he correct in saying it was that old? _______ The rock was just created!!

A Young Earth With An Old Look

If you could look at the earth immediately after it was created, it would have an
APPEARANCE OF AGE, and it would seem that the trees and the mountains and the oceans and
the beaches and the rocks and the sun had all been around for a long time! But the fact
is, they all were just created. Is God trying to trick us and deceive us by creating
things with an APPEARANCE OF AGE? No! God has told us all about His methods of creation,
and anyone (including scientists) can read the book of GENESIS and learn the truth about
Creation! God is not deceiving men, but men are deceiving themselves when they refuse to
take the Bible seriously. They refuse to believe God and take Him at His Word. Just as a
magician would not be tricking anyone if he carefully told his audience how he did his
tricks, so God is not deceiving anyone since He has fully explained how He created the
world.

The Creator At Work 2000 Years Ago!

Many years ago (approximately 2000 years ago) the CREATOR actually walked on this earth
and people were able to see a public demonstration of His creation methods as they watched
His amazing miracles! Let us consider some of these miracles:

1. Water Turned to Wine

In John 2 we learn about our Lords first miracle which took place at a wedding
feast. The Lord told them to fill 6 waterpots with water (verses 6-7). Each waterpot held
about 20 or 30 gallons of water! So by His creative power the Son of God transformed about
150 gallons of water into unfermented wine.

Soon after this the ruler of the feast tasted the wine. Did he know that a miracle had
just taken place (see verse 9)? _______ He probably assumed that the wine had been kept
and stored somewhere and that it had come from the juice of grapes that had once been on a
grapevine. These grapes grew on the vine and then one day when they were ripe, men picked
them and then squeezed the juice out of them. But the ruler of the feast was wrongl This
wine had never come from grapes and there was never any vine! This wine was produced by
the Word of an omnipotent CREATOR! Do you think that Jesus really needed water to perform
this miracle? _______ By His creative power, the Lord Jesus changed the water into the
best grape juice ever tasted by human tongues.

2. The Storm Stilled

Read Luke 8:22-25. Here is another miracle performed by the CREATOR. Instantly the Sea
of Galilee was calmed and the storm ceased (verse 24). Suppose a man were to fly over this
lake in his helicopter soon after the seas were calmed (of course we know that there were
no helicopters in those days). He would look down and see this calm, peaceful lake. Do you
think he would ever guess that just minutes before there had been a raging storm on this
lake? _____ Even the winds and the waters obeyed their Creator!

3. Feeding the Five Thousand

Read Matthew 14:15-21. Suppose that you came along during the middle of this meal, not
knowing that a tremendous miracle had just taken place. One of the men holds up a fish for
you to look at and he asks, "Do you think you can give me the life history of this
fish?" You would probably think that this was an odd question, but you do your best
to answer, "Well, as far as I can tell this fish must have been hatched from eggs and
was swimming around in the Sea of Galilee. One day a fishermen must have caught it in his
net and then it was prepared for eating." But the man would then say, "No,
Im sorry, but you are wrong. This fish was never hatched, it was never in the water,
it was never caughtit is a fish that was never even wet! Jesus the Creator just made
this fish! Not only that, but these barley loaves which we are eating were made of barley
which never grew in a field, was never harvested and was never gathered or processed or
baked in ovens. These loaves have an appearance of history which they never really
had!" [Only the two fish and the five loaves had any real history; the rest of the
fish and loaves were created for the occasion.]

4. Healing Miracles

Every diseased and crippled and leprous person that Jesus ever healed instantly took on
the appearance of previous health which he never really had. Because of their miraculous
healings, these people were perfectly healthy and if you did not know about their healing
you would assume that they had enjoyed such health for quite some time. Consider the man
in John 9 who was blind from his birth. Jesus healed him completely and instantly. Imagine
if this man were to go to an eye doctor for an eye examination:

BLIND MAN: "How are my eyes, doctor?"
DOCTOR: "Sir, you have 20-20 vision. You really have been blessed
with good vision!"
BLIND MAN: "No, doctor, you do not understand. I was blind all my
life until yesterday, but the Creator healed me!"

[The doctor would normally assume that this man had always had good vision, but this
assumption would have been wrong].

The same is true with the man in Acts 3 who was _________________ from his
_________________ (Acts 3:2). God healed him (verses 6-7) and all the people were amazed
as they saw him walking and LEAPING (verses 9-11), because they knew he had a history of
lameness, but he was acting as if he never had such a history at all. If you had met this
man after his healing you never would have guessed that he had been lame from birth.

5. Lazarus

Read John 11 (the miracle of Lazarus being raised from the dead). Just suppose Lazarus
were to go to a doctor for a physical examination:

DOCTOR: "Well, Lazarus, you pass the test, you seem to be in very
good health! Your physical condition is excellent"
LAZARUS: "Doctor, from your experience, what would you say my past
history has been?"
DOCTOR: "Well, Im sure you must have been getting plenty of
good exercise and eating well and enjoying overall good health for quite some time."
LAZARUS: "Doctor, this may be a surprise to you, but I recently was
DEAD and my body was decomposing and rotting away for 4 days in a tomb (even to the point
where it was starting to smellJohn 11:39), but my CREATOR and my SAVIOUR brought me
back to life!"

How Old is the Earth?

People who do not believe in the God of Creation and who do not believe the book of
Genesis believe that the earth is very old. Evolutionists in 1900 believed that the earth
was about 50 million years old. Today, more than 100 years later, they believe that the
earth is much older: "The history of the earth spans a period of more than 4 billion
years" (from a 1998 Encyclopedia). The god of CHANCE needs much time to do his work
(see Chapter 4)! Most evolutionists today say that the earth is about 4,600 million years
old (which is the same as 4.6 billion years). This means that now they believe that the
earth is nearly 100 times older than what they thought it was in 1900. How old will they
say the earth is fifty or one hundred years from now? Their theories keep changing and
their textbooks need to be revised constantly to keep up with their newest theories.

In this chapter we will learn that the earth is not MILLIONS of years old and it is
certainly not BILLIONS of years old, but in reality its age is only THOUSANDS of years.
The earth is not nearly as old as many people think.

We know that written documents only go back several thousand years. Sumerian writing
and Egyptian writing were among the earliest. Today it is very rare to find written
documents even before the time of Christ.

Some trees are very old. There are Sequoia trees that are 3,500 years old. These trees
began growing around the time of Moses and they are still living today! Some Bristlecone
Pine trees are 4000 years old which means that they started growing during the time of
Abraham!

The Biblical Record

The Bible has much to tell us about the age of the earth and the age of man. Remember,
the age of the earth and the age of man are basically the same (the earth is five days
older than man, according to Genesis chapter 1). The earth was not here millions or
billions of years before Adam.

The Bible, in different places, gives us detailed genealogies which help us to
determine the approximate age of mankind (the length of time man has been on the earth
starting with Adam). For example, in Luke chapter 3 we have a lengthy genealogy. This
genealogy begins with J_______________ (see verse 23) and goes all the way back to
A_______________ (see verse 38).

We know that from the time of Christ to the present is approximately 2000 years (Christ
died approximately 30 A.D.). We also know that from the time of Abraham to the time of
Christ was about 2000 years (Abraham lived on earth approximately 2000 B.C.). There are
two other periods of time which are not as easy to determine (for reasons which we will
discuss):

The Period from the Creation of Adam to the Flood.

The Period from the Flood to Abraham.

But for each of these periods God does give us a GENEALOGY. In Genesis chapter 5 we
have a genealogy covering the time from Adam to Noah (from Creation to the Flood). In
Genesis chapter 11 we have a genealogy covering the time from Shem (Noahs son) to
Abraham (from the Flood to Abraham).

Thus to determine the age of the earth and the age of man, there are four main period
of time that we must add up:

From Creation to the Flood
(Genesis 5) ? Years

From the Flood to Abraham
(Genesis 11) ? Years

From Abraham to Christ
(Matthew 1) 2000 Years (approx.)

From Christ to the Present 2000 Years (approx.)

DATE OF CREATION
? Years

Genealogical Gaps

The reason we can not be sure about the length of time represented in the first two
categories is because of the possibility that there could have been some gaps in the
genealogies. A gap occurs when one or more generations are skipped. For example, in
Matthew 1:1 Christ is called the "_________ _____ Abraham" but between Christ
and Abraham there is a big GAP of many generations (see Matthew 1:2-16).

One example of a gap is the gap between Joram and Uzziah. In Matthew 1:8 (KJV) we read
that J_____________________ begat Ozias (who is also called Uzziah or Azariah). Does this
mean that Joram was the father of Uzziah? Actually as we study the Old Testament carefully
we discover that Joram was actually the great, great grandfather of Uzziah.

Who was the son of Joram (2 Kings 8:24)? ______________________
Who was the son of Ahaziah (2 Kings 11:2)? _______________________
Who was the son of Joash (2 Kings 12:19-21)? __________________________
Who was the son of Amaziah (2 Kings 14:21)? __________________________

[Note: Azariah is the same person as Uzziah.]

Matthew 1:8

Joram ¯Uzziah

¬

¬

A gap of
three generations!
(A gap of about 50 years!)

Symmetry but not Completeness

As we study the genealogies in the Bible, we discover that the Bible writers were more
concerned about symmetry (having a regular and balanced arrangement of names) than
they were about completeness (listing every father and every son without any gaps).
As we compare the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 we find that they are in perfect balance
and symmetry. In each case there are 10 patriarchs (fathers) with the 10th
patriarch having 3 important sons:

Please fill in the missing names:

Genesis 5

Genesis 11

1. ADAM

1. SHEM

2. _____________________________

2. ARPACHSHAD

3. _____________________________

3. CAINAN

4. KENAN

4. SHELAH

5. MAHALALEL

5. ___________________________________

6. JARED

6. ___________________________________

7. _____________________________

7. REU

8. ______________________________

8. SERUG

9. LAMECH

9. ___________________________________

10. _______________________________

10. __________________________________

(SHEM, ____________, JAPHETH)

(____________, NAHOR, ___________)

Perhaps the genealogies were given in such a symmetrical way to help the people in
memorizing these lists of names. In these genealogies we have the line of the Messiah.
Christ the Messiah was a descendant of these men (see Luke 3:23-36). In Matthew chapter 1
we also have a symmetrical genealogy in which we have 3 sets of 14 generations each (see
verse 17):

Matthew 1:17

1) FROM FATHER ABRAHAM TO KING DAVID

14 NAMES: see
Matthew 1:1-6

2) FROM KING DAVID TO THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY

14
NAMES: see Matthew 1:6-11

3) FROM THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY TO CHRIST

14 NAMES: see
Matthew 1:12-16

We have already seen that in Matthew 1:8 there is a gap of 3 generations (the names of
three kings are missing). Matthew, who wrote under Gods direction, only wanted to
include 14 names in this section, so he left this gap in verse 8. It is easy to remember
three groups of 14 each. We know that the genealogy in Matthew 1 is symmetrical but it is
not complete. It is missing some names and some generations.

We know that there are gaps in the Matthew 1 genealogy (from Abraham to Christ). Could
there also be gaps in the Luke 3 genealogy (from Adam to Christ)? Could there be gaps in
the Genesis 5 genealogy (from Adam to the Flood)? Could there be gaps in the Genesis 11
genealogy (from the Flood to Abraham)? If there are no gaps, then we can very accurately
determine the time from Adam to the Flood and from the Flood to Abraham. In the 17th
century, an Irish Archbishop by the name of USSHER worked out a system for dating the key
events of the Bible. Archbishop Ussher dated the creation of the world at 4004 B.C. In
doing this Ussher interpreted the genealogies in Genesis 5 and 11 in a very strict way and
he assumed that there were no gaps at all. If there are some gaps in Genesis 5 and 11,
then the date for creation would need to be pushed back some more.

TIME PERIOD

No Gaps

Gaps

From Creation
to the Flood (Genesis 5)

1656 Years

2000 Years ?

From the Flood
to Abraham (Genesis 11)

291 Years

1000 Years ?

From Abraham to
Christ (Matthew 1)

2000 Years
(approx.)

2000 Years
(approx.)

From Christ to
the Present

2000 Years
(approx.)

2000 Years
(approx.)

DATE OF CREATION

6047 Years Ago (approx.)
[4047 B.C.]

7000 Years Ago (approx.)
[5000 B.C.]

Whether there were gaps or no gaps, the earth was created only 6 or 7 millennia ago.
How different this is from the evolutionary time scale! They teach that the world is over
4 billion years old and that man is over 1 million years old! According to the Bible the
world is not billions of years or millions of years old. Indeed it is less than 10,000
years old.

For Further Study

For a discussion of the possibility of gaps especially in Genesis 11 see The Genesis
Flood by John Whitcomb and Henry Morris (Appendix II). See also Chart of the Period
from the Creation to Abraham by John C. Whitcomb.

For literature written by those who do not believe there were gaps in Genesis
5 and 11 see Longevity ChartAdam to Joseph, by Nathan Meyer and
Alice Hoover (BMH Books). See also The Genesis Record by Henry Morris
(Morris favors the "no gap" view but he does allow for the possibility
of some gaps in Genesis 11, see pages 284-285). If there are no gaps in Genesis
11, then this would mean that all of the fathers living after the Flood, including
Noah, would still be alive when Abraham was fifty years old. Three of the fathers
who lived before the Tower of Babel (Shem, Salah and Eber) would have outlived
Abraham. Also Noah and Abraham would have been living on earth at the same time
(they would have been contemporaries for 58 years) and Abraham would have died
35 years before Shem did. It seems more likely that Noah and Shem (Noahs
son) would have died years before Abraham came on the scene.

Appendix 1

Scientific Evidence For a Young Earth

There is much scientific evidence that points in the direction of a young
earth. This evidence points to the fact that the earth is only thousands of
years old, not millions or billions of years old. Much of this evidence is
ignored by the scientific community which is dominated by evolutionists.

Scientists are aware of over 70 methods that can give us the earth’s age, all
of which are based on the reality that natural processes occurring steadily
through time produce cumulative and measurable results. Since many of these
“clocks” do not agree with the billions of years the evolutionary theory needs,
they are often ignored by the scientific community. Let us look at some of them:

Interplanetary dust - the earth and the moon are collecting dust from
the cosmos. On the moon erosion is very limited and there is no wind or
precipitation of any kind. Evolutionists expected to find a significant layer of
dust (many feet thick!) on the moon, due to its supposed 4 or 5 billion year
age. What the astronauts did find was 2 to 4 inches of dust or less, about what
could be expected to accumulate in 10,000 years or less.

Juvenile water - when volcanoes erupt they bring to the surface of
the earth water that has never before been there. The estimated output of all
volcanoes per year is one cubic mile of juvenile water. At that rate, it would
have taken only 340 million years to produce all the water on our earth today,
leading one to conclude that there were no oceans on the earth 340 million years
ago. Unfortunately, this was right in the middle of the evolutionary chart’s
“age of fishes.” If the earth is 5 billion years old, what has happened to all
the excess water that would have been produced by volcanoes?

Where has all the lava gone? - If only 1000 volcanoes were producing
lava, then the entire earth’s crust would have taken just 20 million years to be
formed by volcanic action alone. There are about 600 active volcanoes today and
10,000 dormant ones (sleeping ones), not including the ones under the ocean.
Most scientists believe that volcanic activity was much greater in the past than
in the present. But when we examine the crust of the earth, we do not find huge
amounts of lava which we would certainly expect to find if the world were as
ancient as evolutionists teach. Only a small percentage of crustal rocks are
formed from volcanoes.

Where have all the meteors gone? - If the earth has really been
around for over 4 billion years, then during this time it would have been
bombarded by meteors. One scientist from the Swedish Oceanographic Institute
calculated that about 14.3 million tons of meteoritic dust settle to the earth
each year (dust that is rich in nickel content). If the earth were 4 billion
years old, then we would expect to be buried in about 54 feet of meteoritic
dust. However, “the amount of meteorites accumulated in the strata and
meteoritic dust in the crust, in relation to amounts reaching the earth at
present, would indicate an age in thousands of years, not millions or billions”
(What is Creation Science?, by Henry Morris and Gary Parker, page 250).

Comets - are very fragile structures. Each time a comet circles the
sun the solar wind blasts matter from its surface to become part of its tail.
Measuring the observable rate of comet disintegration, evolutionists realize
that all the comets would be gone in as little as 10,000 years. Yet there are up
to 5 million comets still orbiting in our solar system. Unwilling to admit that
the earth might not be that young, evolutionists theorize that there is a huge
“nest” of comets far in the outer reaches of the solar system that every once in
a while kicks some new comets out into orbit. But there is no evidence of this.
The real reason that the comets have not all been destroyed is that the universe
is not millions or billions of years old.

Oil deposit pressure - the pressure that sends a gusher of oil
spouting into the air when a well is drilled is gradually being dissipated
through the porosity of the rocks containing the pocket of oil. This dissipation
of pressure can be measured. Dr. Melvin Cook (a chemist who earned the Nitro
Nobel Gold Medal in 1968) has concluded
that it is impossible for oil to be contained in these deposits for periods
greater than 10,000 to 100,000 years (this is because the great pressure would
cause the oil to leak out after a certain number of years). If the oil deposits
have been there more than 5,000 years, in many cases there would be no pressure
left. Obviously these oil deposits were suddenly encased in these layers just a
few thousand years ago (probably at the time of Noah’s Flood). Evolutionists
believe oil was formed 25 million years ago, but how could the pressure be
contained for such a long period?

Erosion - at the present rate of soil erosion all the continents on
earth would be worn down to sea level in just 14 million years. There should
have accumulated at least 150 times more sediment in the ocean than there
actually is, if the earth is 4 or 5 billion years old.

Top soil - scientists estimate that the combination of plant growth,
bacterial decay, and erosion produces six inches of top soil in 5,000 to 20,000
years. The average depth of top soil over the earth is 7-8 inches. If the earth
has been here 5 billion years, why isn’t it buried in top soil?

Mississippi River delta - at present erosion rates the entire
Mississippi River delta would have accumulated in only 5,000 years. If the earth
is really as old as evolutionists teach, then we would expect that delta to be
much, much, much larger and more massive than it is.

Niagara Falls - because the rim of the falls is wearing back at a
known rate every year, geologists recognize that it has taken only about 5,000
years to erode from its original precipice.

Stalactite growth in caves - under the Lincoln Memorial stalactites
have grown to five feet long in less than 50 years. Evidence shows that all cave
formations could easily be formed in a few thousand years, not the 100,000 that
evolutionists claim. Indeed, the discovery was made of a bat cemented inside a
stalagmite at Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico. The process occurred so rapidly that
the bat was entombed before the action of bacterial decay and/or predators could
take their effect (Speak to the Earth–Creation Studies in Geoscience,
George Howe, ed., chapter XVIII, pages 324-326).

Receding moon - the moon’s distance from the earth is increasing two
inches a year. Working back, it would mean the moon and earth would have been
touching only two billion years ago. If the earth is five billion years old, the
moon should be out of sight by now. How do evolutionists explain this?

Population Statistics - If the rate of population growth has been the
same throughout man’s history, then man could not have been on earth for a
million years, as evolution teaches. “The traditional Biblical chronology is
infinitely more realistic than is the million-year history of mankind assumed by
the evolutionist. For the over 28,600 generations assumed in a supposed million
years of man’s life on earth, the world population should now be over 105000
people! This number, which could be written as ‘one’ followed by 5000 zeros, is
inconceivably large. Even if we eventually are able to colonize other worlds and
to build space cities everywhere in the inter-stellar spaces, it can be shown
that a maximum of no more than 10100 people could be crammed into the entire
known universe!” (Henry Morris, hydraulic engineer). Evolutionists suggest that
the rate of growth during man’s first 990,000 years (about 99 percent of his
history) was exceedingly small, the annual rate of increase being only 15
additional persons per million of population. But are we really to believe that
after one year 1,000,000 people would only increase to 1,000,015? (Think of
families you know that have increased by one person in the last year!). This is
even more difficult to believe when we realize that the annual rate of increase
today is about 20,000 additional persons per million of population! Why would
the world’s population increase so slowly during man’s first 990,000 years and
increase so rapidly during man’s last 10,000 years? If the earth is really as
old as evolutionists say, then why aren’t there more people?

The Decay of the Earth’s Magnetic Field - the earth has a magnet in
it, a very strong magnet! The strength of the earth’s magnetic field has been
measured accurately for over 100 years. Scientists have learned that this
magnetic field has been decaying and losing strength. This great magnet is much
weaker now than it was in the past. Indeed, if the trend continues, in a few
thousand years the earth’s magnetic field will be gone. The earth’s magnetic
field has a half-life of 1400 years. This means that 1400 years from now the
magnetic field will be only half as strong as it is today; 1400 years ago it was
twice as strong as it is today. Dr. Thomas Barnes, Professor of Physics at the
University of Texas in El Paso has concluded that due to the rapid decay of the
earth’s magnetic field, the age of the earth itself is less than 10,000 years.
Evolutionists believe that there have been reversals in the earth’s magnetic
field.

Amount of Minerals in the Ocean - Suppose a man constructed a
man-made pond on his property. Every year he throws 5 quarters into the pond.
After the man’s death the pond is drained and 110 quarters are found. How old is
the pond? _________________ The age of the pond is easily determined. Likewise
we can determine the age of the ocean. Rivers empty into the ocean and deposit
chemicals and minerals and sediment into the oceans of the world. Take nickel
for example. It is possible to calculate how much nickel is being deposited into
the oceans today and it is possible to measure how much nickel is in the ocean
today. We can then figure out how long it took for the ocean to reach its
present level of nickel (assuming that the rate of deposit has always been the
same and assuming that the ocean had no nickel at the beginning). The
conclusion: the nickel content of the ocean would argue for an age of the ocean
of 8,000 years! Similar studies have been done with respect to ocean levels of
carbonate, sulphate, chlorine, calcium, uranium, sodium, magnesium, silicon,
potassium, copper, gold, silver, mercury, lead, tin, aluminum and many others.
The results of each of these show that the age of the ocean is much younger than
evolutionists believe [see Chemical Oceanography, Ed. By J.P. Riley and
G. Skirrow (New York, Academic Press, Vol. 1, 1965)].

Amount of Helium in the Atmosphere - Helium 4 is the most abundant
isotope of helium. Scientists know that Helium 4 is being fed into the
atmosphere and if the earth were really 4 billion years old then we should
expect to find much higher levels of Helium 4 in the atmosphere (100,000 times
as much Helium 4 as we find today). Evolutionists assume that much of the Helium
4 somehow escaped from the atmosphere but this is doubtful. The main reason why
there is not much Helium 4 in the atmosphere is because the earth is very young.